Cheryl Burke: Viewer complacency may be behind 'Dancing' ouster

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 11/03/2010

Cheryl Burke believes home viewer complacency may be the reason she and former NBA basketball player Rick Fox were eliminated from Dancing with the Stars despite posting their best scores of the season and finishing tied for third place on the judges' leaderboard during Monday night's performance show.

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"You never think that -- You just, you know, you hope for the best; you hope that people are voting. I think we may have gotten lost in the pack and people may have thought that we were going to be safe and maybe not voted for us that night, Burke told Good Morning America during a Wednesday morning interview with Fox.

"But that just shows you you really need to vote, that every vote counts."

Burke said it's important to vote because she believes all of the season's remaining dance couples seem to be neck and neck at this point of the competition, and surprises are bound to keep happening.

"I think it's going to be close; I think that's what makes this season so exciting. There's no clear frontrunner, so everyone just needs to vote for whoever you think should make the finals," Burke said.

"Or they may go home," Fox added.

The former NBA basketball player also agreed the five couples left on the show all deserve to be there, which adds to the competition's appeal.

"I know I have my enjoyment in regards to watching my fellow contestants perform. They're all great -- they're all warranted to be at where they're at right now in this competition. I'm looking forward to seeing it go down to the wire," Fox said.

Despite having been eliminated from Dancing with the Stars, Fox said he is thrilled with what he has gained and taken away from the show.

"Well this experience as a whole is something that you can't put into words when you begin, because you have no expectations -- you have no understanding fully of what is going to be asked of you. You know you got to learn how to dance -- you're going to get to meet a partner who is great at dancing, but as I look out over the last seven weeks, I think about the relationship I have with my daughter has grown," Fox explained.

"She loves the show; she has always watched since second grade, but she got to come to the show and see her dad dance instead of me driving her to dance practice for the first time in her life -- and then -- just as a partner with my girlfriend -- getting to know each other through this pressured situation, as supportive as she was, I got to see her be the loving partner that I know she is."